Monday, May 28, 2012

Skeeters' catcher Manny Meija slides into third base while Terry Tiffee gets the forced-out in the third inning. Photo by Darla Tamulitis-La Vita Loco Photography, Copyright 2012, All Right Reserved

By Robert H KellyCopyight 2012 TexSport Publications

SUGAR LAND, TEXAS (May 27, 2012) Connecting for a walk-off
home run with two outs in the bottom of the tenth inning, shortstop Dominic
Ramos connected on an 0-2 pitch to give the Sugar Land Skeeters a 4-3 win over
the Lancaster Barnstormers at Constellation Field in Sugar Land.

The win raised the Skeeters’ season record to 14-15 and
allowed them to take the four-game series 3-1.

The Barnstormers jumped out to an early lead in the top of
the first inning when left fielder Blake Gailen scored from second base on a
double by third baseman Terry Tiffee.

They scored their second run of the game in the fifth inning
when second baseman Brad Boyer scored from third base on a passed ball.

The Skeeters came back in the bottom of the inning when Josh
Pressley connected for his third homerun of the season to cut the Barnstormers
lead to one.

Lancaster followed up with their own homerun in the next
innings on a Tommy Everidge round tripper to give the Barnstormers a two-run
lead.

Not to be outdone, Skeeters’ right fielder Jason Botts
tallied his own homerun over the left field wall to take the score to 3-2 in
favor of the Barnstormers.

The Skeeters evened the score at 3-all when player-coach Vic
Gutierrez scored from third base on a passed ball to tie the score and sent the
game to extra innings.

Right fielder Jason Botts ended the game in the bottom of
the tenth inning with a walk-off homerun to give the Skeeters the victory.

Pressley’s home run in the fifth inning was his 99th as an
Atlantic League player.

In addition, Botts extended his game hitting streak to eight

The Skeeters will begin a four-game series against the
Southern Maryland Blue Crabs on Monday with the first pitch set for 6:05 p.m.

Monday, May 14, 2012

HOUSTON – The University of Houston softball program returns to Austin for a second-straight year and faces Auburn in the opening game of the NCAA Regional.

Houston (34-22) and Auburn (33-21) are scheduled to play May 18 at 7 p.m. at Red & Charline McCombs Field. Northwestern (27-27) and host No. 6 national seed Texas (42-10) make the up the four-team region. The winner of the Austin Regional will face the winner of the Eugene (Ore.) Regional in the NCAA Super Regional to play for the right to advance to the 2012 Women's CollegeWorld Series in Oklahoma City, Okla.

Last year, the Cougars went 3-0 in the Austin Regional posting two wins over Louisiana Lafayette and defeating No. 6 Texas to advance to the Super Regionals. This is the first time in the program’s 12th year to make the postseason in consecutive years and fifth time overall to qualify for postseason play.

Houston finished tied for third with Marshall and UCF in the Conference USA league play with a 15-9 record this year. As the No. 5 seed in C-USA Championships, Houston defeated UCF in the opening round before falling 4-3 in the semifinals to eventual champions Tulsa.

The matchup marks a first in program history between the Cougars and Tigers. Houston has never played Northwestern and trail Texas 4-15 in the all-time series including at 15-4 loss at home during the Striking Out Breast Cancer game this season.